Full Breakdown
$70,000 Pokémon Card Theft Shocks Winnipeg Flea-Market Vendor
By Drooid · · How we work
Core Event
Around midnight on a Friday, the Mulvey Market stall in Winnipeg’s South Osborne neighbourhood was broken into after a trade night. Surveillance footage shows a hooded individual exiting a back door with a large blue bag. The owner, Kenan Hyseni, returned to find sealed booster boxes, specialty collection boxes, single cards and professionally graded “slabs” missing, an estimated loss of roughly $70,000. Hyseni has filed a police report but does not carry specialized collectibles insurance, citing quoted premiums of about $5,000 per month.
Background & Context
The theft follows a pattern of recent burglaries targeting high-value Pokémon merchandise across Canada. In the previous year a Winnipeg collectibles store lost about $5,000, while two Ottawa hobby shops were robbed of roughly $10,000 in early 2025. Earlier this year, stores in British Columbia, and two locations in Ajax, Ontario, reported “tens of thousands of dollars” in stolen rare cards.
Official Statements & Responses
He noted that the market’s single entrance allowed the perpetrator to hide until after closing. Collectors’ groups have warned that the lack of affordable insurance leaves small vendors vulnerable to such targeted crimes.
Verbatim Quotes
- “There's a lot of things that go through your mind, but mostly it's just the disappointment and the disrespect,” — Kenan Hyseni, the owner and operator of Mulvey Market
- “For this to happen to us or anyone else within the community is absolutely heartbreaking.” — Kenan Hyseni, the owner and operator of Mulvey Market
- “In a community that is so tightly knit, for something like that to happen … it's like a knife to the chest,” — Michael Restiaux
- “Pokemon has increased in value drastically since, I'd say, COVID — 2020,” — Kenan Hyseni, the owner and operator of Mulvey Market
- “So it wasn't just … random. It was someone that knew the market — it was someone that would have known the market, the Pokemon market for sure.” — Kenan Hyseni, the owner and operator of Mulvey Market
- “The night finished, we locked up, did the usual thing, and then we went home and just before midnight, I got a call from the landlord and they said the alarm had been tripped, and that someone was seen leaving the market with bags,” — Kenan Hyseni, the owner and operator of Mulvey Market
- “All of the high-end stuff, including all the singles and the slabs (professionally graded cards) and collector booster boxes,” — Kenan Hyseni, the owner and operator of Mulvey Market
- “It’s like the No. 1 seller for every shop right now, and it’s so tough to get these days,” — Curtis Howson